Tim Hawkinson American, b. 1960

Tim Hawkinson is a master at conjuring both organic and inorganic materials into extraordinary objects that uncannily mimic something entirely different. Kitchen scraps, wizened Christmas trees, detritus blown by storms into his backyard and his own hair are just some of the materials he transforms into intelligent and amusing sculptures and photo-works.

Importantly, many of Hawkinson’s objects use his own body as source material. Thumbsucker (2015), for example, is a two-part hanging sculpture of a moon and astronaut entirely made of casts of the artist’s lips and fingers. Another work looks like a microscope, but the “lenses” were created by casting imprints of his skull or butt cheeks in resin.

Though Hawkinson’s work is playful and often humorous, he addresses some of the most serious issues of our time. A number of works refer to current threats to our environment: rising temperatures and sea levels, drought, and the carbon footprint of our most beloved consumer products. Hawkinson is a visionary, a modern-day alchemist and provocateur, who sees the role of the artist in society as the person who asks the questions without answers.